Parents should be banned from withdrawing their children from religious education classes because they are preventing pupils from learning about Islam, the Church of England has warned.
Derek Holloway, the Church’s lead on religious education (RE), said some parents with fundamentalist religious beliefs and “extremist views” are “exploiting” laws which give them the right to exclude their children from the lessons.
As a result, children are being left with little understanding of wider world views and are denied the chance to learn how to live in a modern and diverse country, he warned.
Current rules allow parents to exempt their children from RE lessons without having to provide a reason.
In a blogpost, Mr Holloway urged for this to be scrapped, commenting that RE, along with every other subject, can help to combat extremism and encourage community relations.
“To enable all to 'live well together' there is a need for all pupils from all backgrounds to receive a broad and balanced curriculum that includes high-quality RE,” he said,
”Sadly, and dangerously, the right of withdrawal from RE is now being exploited by a range of 'interest groups' often using a dubious interpretation of human rights legislation.
Mr Holloway, who previously taught at state comprehensive schools in Essex and Wiltshire, said the right to withdraw children from RE “gives comfort to those who are breaking the law and seeking to incite religious hatred”.
He told the Press Association: “Through RE teacher social media forums and feedback from our RE advisers, I am aware that some parents have sought to exploit the right to withdraw children from RE lessons.
”This is seemingly because they do not want their children exposed to other faiths and world views, in particular Islam.
“We are concerned that this is denying those pupils the opportunity to develop the skills they need to 'live well together' as adults.”
This also puts schools in an “impossible position” as they have to show Ofsted inspectors they are preparing pupils for life in modern Britain, Mr Holloway warned.
“Anecdotally, there have also been some cases in different parts of the country of parents with fundamentalist religious beliefs also taking a similar course,” he said.
“This is not confined to any one particular religion or area of the country.
”The Church of England is far from alone in this view and we support the broad consensus across the sector - both from teachers and RE advisers - that the right of withdrawal from RE is being exploited by a minority and should now be reviewed.“
He added that the Church does not want to see parents' rights to withdraw pupils from assemblies reviewed or scrapped.
Responding to Mr Holloway's concerns, the British Humanist Association (BHA) criticised the Church for wanting to "have its cake and eat it too", claiming the Church had lobbied to have the exemptions introduced in the first place.
Chief Executive Andrew Copson said: "We agree with the Church that RE is an important subject, and we agree that parents should not withdraw their children from it unless it is imbalanced or being used to push a particular set of beliefs.
"But as long as schools, faith-based or otherwise, continue to provide this kind of RE [faith-based], the right to withdraw remains important in defending children’s freedom of religion and belief."
A spokesman from the National Secular Society said: “If the subject was reformed to be a genuinely educational and non-partisan study of religious and non-religious world views, the right to withdraw may no longer be necessary. But until such time, the right of withdrawal is required to protect parental rights and freedoms.”
Faith schools must lose the right to teach RE “from their own, exclusive viewpoint”, he added.
